


98. Writer's Choice: Queen

by parka_girl



Category: Infinite (Band), Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 05:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7702858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parka_girl/pseuds/parka_girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Myungsu is a scholar and Wonho is a spy, in order to remain together, they must keep their relationship a secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	98. Writer's Choice: Queen

**Author's Note:**

> I used Wonho instead of his real name in this fic.

Even though he's been with the court for years, he's never met the Queen. Few people do. She never shows her face in public and sometimes, perhaps more often than not, people wonder if she exists at all. Myungsu doesn't spend much time listening to such speculation, he finds there's no point to it. No one knows the truth, which he suspects is the idea. 

What he does know is that real or not, the Queen has spies everywhere. He knows this because he's sleeping with one of them. He isn't supposed to know that Wonho's a spy, but he does. Maybe it's because Myungsu's good at getting people to tell him things or maybe it's because Wonho's a bit more talkative than most spies, but whatever it is, Myungsu understands that it doesn't really matter if the Queen exists or not.

They live at her pleasure, they work at her pleasure, and their careers, lives and that of their families, can be destroyed at her pleasure, too. It doesn't matter if she's real, in the end, because the threats are. And no matter how much Myungsu loves Wonho, and it's quite a lot, their relationship is a risk to their lives. It's not that the Queen or society as a whole, disapproves of same-sex relationships. Instead, it's the fact that Wonho's a spy and Myungsu is a member of the court. 

They shouldn't socialize, especially because Myungsu's a scholar. He's not a knight or a soldier and nor is he a nobody. He is not important and neither is Wonho, but that's never mattered before, not for people who shouldn't be involved. It's not like either of them swore not to be in a relationship, court relationships happen all the time. Myungsu's not even sure it's a rule, just an unspoken one that he knows because he's sleeping with Wonho, because he's in love with him. 

It will cost them their lives, even if they're careful. Which is why Wonho comes up with a plan. They will have to leave. Myungsu's family is lost to him and Wonho was picked because he had none. They only have each other, and maybe that's partly why they were drawn to each other. But that doesn't matter now. Myungsu has found something in his life more important than books and learning. And Wonho? Myungsu knows that he's long since cared for Myungsu more than spying for the Queen. 

They sleepwalk through their jobs, counting the hours, the minutes, the seconds, until they see each other. Until Myungsu knows it's now or never. They pick a day, the festival of the Queen's birth. Everyone will be celebrating. No one will notice the two of them as they steal out of the castle, the city, and into the wilderness that lies beyond the walls surrounding the city. The city that's the only home either of them have ever known.

They will not venture out unprepared, they have been planning for too long. They will be missed, eventually, but Myungsu hopes they'll be long gone by the time someone notices. They have practiced running away, if only for a few hours at a time. They know the schedules of the guards by heart as well as all the secret ways into and out of the castle. Myungsu is lucky that Wonho is a spy. If he was leaving on his own, he wouldn't make it far. But together ... Myungsu lets his thoughts trail off as he looks at his tiny room. 

In two days time they'll be leaving. Myungsu wonders if he'll miss anything. He looks at the bag lying open on his bed. It's full of the only belongings he's bringing with him. Clothes, some books, a journal he's written in since he started as a scholar, and a few items from his childhood. He wonders if they'll find his parents, out there, or if maybe some of Wonho's family had survived. Most of the people in the city don't even know what they've lost and before meeting Wonho, Myungsu would've been one of them. But he knows betters now. 

A sharp knock on his door and then a key in the lock. Myungsu is quiet as Wonho enters. They look at each other without speaking and Wonho sets his own bag on the bed as Myungsu closes his up. Wonho will take them and hide their bags until they're ready to leave and come for them. There will be horses, too, smuggled from where, Myungsu doesn't know. But there are people Wonho knows, connections he's made, outside the city. They will be on their own, but they won't be completely alone. 

Myungsu leans over and presses a kiss against Wonho's mouth. Wonho's arms slide around him, pulling him close. They stand this way and it feels like goodbye, but it's not. It's a promise of something, of the future. Myungsu kisses Wonho again. They won't see each other until the night they leave, until two nights from now. Myungsu will go about his duties as if nothing has changed and Wonho has his own work to do.

The two days pass slowly after their last hour together. Myungsu gathers the last of the things they need -- as much fresh food as he can smuggle. No one notices, they wouldn't, everyone's stocking up for the Queen's birthday, the biggest holiday in the land. Everyone is picnicking and partying and Myungsu has no trouble pretending he's doing the same. 

Late afternoon changes into evening and Myungsu dresses in his party finery. But underneath his beautifully crafted clothing, that he will not miss, he wears a simple outfit that will allow him to blend into the crowd. He follows his fellow scholars out of their dorms and joins them as they spill into the courtyard. The yard is full of people and no one gives Myungsu a second glance as makes his way to the edge of the crowd. Others join him, not even bothering looking at him. 

The pillars of the courtyard give way to the roads leading away from the palace. Myungsu joins the throngs, basket of food on his arm, just like everyone around him. He joins a group of revelers as they make their way toward an inn. He does not follow them inside, but instead heads to the stables, where he quickly steps out of his fine clothes. He is dressed far below his station and it feels liberating. He gathers up his clothes, arranging them neatly onto the top of his basket. They look like a nice, if unremarkable, blanket. 

When Myungsu rejoins the crowds, again no one spares a glance at him. He drifts along with them, choosing roads that will take him closer and closer to the edge of the city. To the wall. He has faith that Wonho is waiting for him, he has faith that this will work. He has faith because the alternative is death. It's not yet breathing down his neck and he'd like to avoid that fate. 

The sunset follows him toward the wall, making the world around him glow in soft pinks and oranges. Myungsu does not look back. Instead his gaze follows that of the crowd. He has grown accustomed to pretending he is interested when he is not. His job required a lot of pretending, he'd learned as time went on. When he wasn't reading, which he did most of the time before he met Wonho and much of the time after, too, he had to pretend he cared about court politics. But the truth is that Myungsu never wanted this life, no more than Wonho wanted to be a spy. Perhaps it was just a means to an end, but what end Myungsu hadn't known until he met Wonho. Now he knows and he's never been more certain of anything in his entire life. 

The sunset fades into early evening, a soft blue covering the world. The fireworks will start soon, when the blue sky turns dark and velvety. That's when they'll leave. But Myungsu has another ten minutes until he reaches the spot where they'll meet. He takes it slow, as Wonho advised. The crowds are thinner here, but they are not looking at him. They're looking at the city, illuminated by torches saved for this occasion and few others. They do not see him slip into the shadows, pass by them and down alleyways they don't even notice. 

Wonho is waiting for him at the edge of the last alley, before the door they will use. They do not embrace, they do not even touch. They look at each other and then turn toward the wall. Myungsu can tell from the crackle of excitement in the air that the fireworks will start soon. It is then that they will leave. Myungsu shoulders his bag and holds the food that will last them for what he hopes is long enough until they get their first stop. Wonho shoulders his own bag, along with a weapon they both hope he won't have to use. 

The first of the fireworks begin and with a glance at each other in the gloom of the oncoming night, they start toward the door. There is no on guarding this entrance, there seldom is. The guards pass by every few hours and a few minutes before Myungsu arrived, they had finished their first patrol of the evening. Most of them will have stopped to watch the fireworks anyway. 

The door is not locked, but it will be after they leave. This is the last chance, they could turn back now. Myungsu could turn back now. But he doesn't. He doesn't even turn to look at what he's leaving behind. Wonho doesn't turn, either, he just quietly pulls the door shut behind them, making sure it the lock clicks into place. They step into the darkness, it is the first time Myungsu has been beyond the walls. Myungsu knows that Wonho has, but not very far. They start to walk, slow and steady. When no one shouts after them, when the doors do not burst open, they increase their speed. 

They walk until the fireworks are specks in the darkness and can no longer be heard. They walk until Myungsu's feet start to ache. They walk until Myungsu thinks he can no longer walk. And then they stop. There's a fire, two men shout something, it doesn't sound like words, but Wonho seems to know what it is. He touches Myungsu's arm and then they step into the firelight. These men look nothing like the people inside the walls. They look ... Myungsu doesn't know how else to describe them except to say they look alive and free. 

The meal they eat with the two men is the last warm one Myungsu will have for weeks. But when they leave, on the horses the men prepared, Myungsu doesn't mind. He isn't scared anymore. They are free, far from the clutches of the Queen who may or may not exist. They are free from the rules that bound them, from the fear that kept them apart. They will keep going because they want to and when they find a place to stop, they will. Because freedom, Myungsu thinks, is like that.


End file.
